MILLERSVILLE, Pa.- The West Chester University men's soccer team (8-6-2, 5-4-0) returned to action on Wednesday night in a pivotal PSAC East clash at Millersville (8-6-1, 5-3-1) with major postseason implications. West Chester took an early lead behind a
Peter Tichy (Bethlehem, Pa./Freedom) goal midway through the first half, but Millersville scored a pair of goals in a 15-minute span in the second half to escape with a 2-1 victory over the Golden Rams.
With tonight's result, Millersville moves a point ahead of West Chester entering the final week and a half of the regular season. The Marauders also remain alive in the hunt for the PSAC East Regular Season crown, while the Golden Rams will need a win over East Stroudsburg in their regular season finale, along with non-wins in each of the Marauder's last two games. With 16 points, Millersville is one win away from clinching at least the second seed in the PSAC Tournament, while a win over Bloomsburg in the season finale will give the Marauders a chance to win the regular-season crown depending on goal differential tiebreaker.
Tichy gave West Chester the lead in the 23
rd minute when he buried a PK chance past an outstretched Jake Van Vorhees to give the Golden Rams the early one-goal advantage.
With its first lead in a regular-season road conference match since October 29, 2023, at Lock Haven, West Chester continued to outperform its hosts. It ended the first half with an 8-3 lead in shots and a 2-1 advantage in corners, although the host Marauders ended the opening half with a slim 3-1 lead in corners.
Early in the second half, Millersville erased the halftime deficit when Teague Ferry sent a rocket into the upper left side of the goal to tie the match at 1-1 with 37 minutes to play.
The Marauders took the lead just over 10 minutes when Ferry scored his second of the match off a well-placed Louis Wright cross to give the hosts a slim 2-1 lead over the visiting Golden Rams.
In the final 25 minutes of the match, Millersville tightened defensively and held West Chester to just one shot as
Danny McGonagle (Glen Mills, Pa./Rustin) had a chance in the 68
th minute, which sailed high to keep the score locked at 2-1.
West Chester had a final chance with under two minutes to play in regulation, but the chance ended with the offside flag up, sending play back the other way for the Marauders.
With under a minute to play, Millersville sent the ball into the corner and was able to salt away the final seconds of the match to escape with a 2-1 victory over the Golden Rams.
Millersville ended the match with a 12-10 lead in shots and a 7-2 lead in shots on goal after outshooting West Chester by a 9-2 margin in the second half. They also had a 2-1 lead in corners in the second half to end the match tied at 3-3.
Van Vorhees made one save to earn the victory in goal for the Marauders, while
Jaden Howard (Townsend, Del./Middletown) made five saves in the setback.
Up Next:
West Chester will wrap up its regular season at East Stroudsburg on Friday, November 8, beginning at 7 p.m.
